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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HIG-HOR |
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HOOKE, ROBERT (16351703) , English experimental philosopher, was born on the 18th of July 1635 at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, where his father, John Hooke, was minister of the parish. After working for a short time with Sir Peter Lely, he went to Westminster school; and in 1653 he entered Christ Church, Oxford, as servitor. After 1655 he was employed and patronized by the Hon. Robert Boyle, who turned his skill to account in the construction of his air-pump. On the 12th of November 1662 he was appointed curator of experiments to the Royal Society, of which he was elected a fellow in 1663, and filled the office during the remainder of his life. In 1664 Sir John Cutler instituted for his benefit a mechanical lectureship of 5o a year, and in the following year he was nominated professor of geometry in Gresham
Great
design of Sir C. Wren was preferred. During the progress of the works, however, he acted as surveyor, and accumulated in that lucrative employment a sum of several thousand pounds, discovered after his death in an old iron chest, which had evidently lain unopened for above thirty years. He fulfilled the duties of secretary to the Royal Society during five years after the death of Henry
body
In personal appearance Hooke made but a sorry show. Hisfigure was crooked, his limbs shrunken; his hair hung in dishevelled locks over his haggard countenance. His temper was irritable, his habits penurious and solitary. He was, however, 'blameless in morals and reverent in religion. His scientific achievements would probably have been more striking if they had been less varied. He originated much, but perfected little. His optical investigations led him to adopt in an imperfect form the undulatory theory of light, to anticipate the doctrine of interference, and to observe, independently of though subsequently to F. M. Grimaldi (16181663), the phenomenon of diffraction. He was the first to state clearly that the motions of the heavenly bodies must be regarded asa mechanical problem, and he approached in a remarkable manner the discovery of universal gravitation. He invented the wheel barometer, discussed the application of barometrical indications to meteorological forecasting, suggested a system of optical telegraphy, anticipated E.F.F. Chladni's experiment of strewing a vibrating bell with flour, investigated the nature of sound and the function
His principal writings are Micrographia (1664); Lectiones Cutlerianae (16i416i9); and Posthumous Works, containing a sketch of his Philosophical Algebra," published by R. Waller in 1705. End of Article: HOOKE, ROBERT (16351703) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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